Newsletter

Palmetto Animal League, Family Promise of Beaufort County partner to help local families

Courtesy of Julie ChalpanDaisy, the first pet in the PAL's Promise program, which provides temporary foster care for pets whose families are facing a housing crisis, recently got a visit from her owners.

Area families or individuals facing housing crises don’t have to worry about losing their pets under a new partnership between Family Promise of Beaufort County and Palmetto Animal League (PAL) that has already helped one family in need.

Under the program, PAL’s Promise, PAL will provide temporary foster care to pets of families who are temporarily homeless and are living in a shelter while Family Promise helps them find solutions for permanent housing.

Family Promise houses its guest families in Beaufort County churches, where they are given meals and other essential needs. It collaborates with other social service agencies to provide case management and assistance in finding employment, medical care, child care, school placement and, eventually, affordable housing. Pets are not allowed in the congregations because of allergy concerns and related issues with other families that may be staying in the same place.

Family Promise executive director Elliott Brown, whose organization has been helping people in Beaufort County since 2008, said she noticed last year families were turning down services because they had pets and didn’t want to separate from them.

“I didn’t want to see families become homeless and left with nowhere to go because of something that can be worked through,” Brown said.

With that in mind, Brown reached out to PAL president Amy Campanini, and the partnership was born.

“There are around 350 homeless children in Beaufort County, and we want to be able to help them all, but we can’t always do it when there are certain obstacles like this in the way,” Brown said. “Now we’ve put something in place where people don’t have to worry about their pet’s well-being. They can concentrate on getting everything in order and can go visit their pet when they like. We’re just really grateful that PAL has come on board and decided to help us out.”

PAL, which has a shelter in Okatie, is a no-kill animal rescue and adoption group that Campanini said has been around for close to 30 years under different names and objectives, but has maintained its current focus since 2006. While a family is receiving help from Family Promise, PAL enlists volunteers to care for the dog or cat for a specific amount of time.

“We had the first case a little over a month ago, where one of our volunteers was able to take the family’s pet in,” Campanini said. “One of the good things about this program is there’s a time frame for Family Promise to help people get back on their feet, so we have a list of people who are on call to help when they can. When we get the animal, it’s usually for a 30- to 90-day period, so it’s a great way to get involved for someone who wants to help, but can’t provide foster care full-time.”

Another plus to the program, Campanini said, is that PAL usually has upfront knowledge about the pet it is fostering.

“We usually have a lot of information on hand about what kind of animal it is and what kind of home it would be good in, so our volunteers will know if they’re a good fit to take care of it,” she said. “That gives us an advantage compared to when we’re dealing with a stray.”

PAL also provides help with the pet’s medical and nutritional needs.

“Any kind of shots the animal needs or any kind of procedure that needs to be done, whether it’s spaying or neutering or something else, we take care of that,” Campanini said. “That’s a great relief to the families not to have to worry about those expenses, and we’re happy to provide that safety net for them.

“This is all a part of what we do. Our promise is that we will keep families and their pets together, and if a situation ever comes up where they can no longer take care of the pet permanently, that animal will go through our regular adoption program and won’t leave our shelter until it has a home.”

Anyone interested in temporarily fostering a pet under the program can email PAL at info@palmettoanimalleague.org or call the center at 645-1725.

For more information on Family Promise of Beaufort County, go to www.familypromisebeaufortcounty.org.